Non-repudiable translation of electronic documents

ABSTRACT

A method for non-repudiable translation of documents is disclosed, whereby a computer application determines a storage location for a first document, generates a first digital signature for the first document, determines a storage location for a plurality of translation instructions, generates a second digital signature for the plurality of translation instructions, translates the first document, assembles a second document including the storage location for the first document, the storage location for the plurality of translation instructions, the first digital signature, the second digital signature, the translation, and at least one encryption key associated with the first document and the plurality of translation instructions, and digitally signs the second document. The signed document includes sufficient information to demonstrate non-repudiable translation of the first document.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of priority, under 35 U.S.C. §120,from U.S. application Ser. No. 10/012,975 filed Dec. 7, 2001.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates in general to electronic transfer ofinformation and, in particular, but not exclusively, tocomputer-implemented, non-repudiable translation of electronicdocuments.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Electronic-business (e-business) is the process of usingInternet-related and computer technologies to improve businessoperations. An important e-business function is the secure and efficienttransfer of documents between entities in electronic form. In thisregard, an established component of e-business operations is thecomputer-implemented translation of electronic documents being sent andreceived.

The computer applications that undergird e-business operations arecapable of producing and accepting electronic documents in accordancewith agreed upon standards, conventions, and protocols. However, in mostbusiness environments there are no universal formats to which all suchdocuments may adhere. Consequently, before electronic documents may betransferred from one application to another, the documents aretranslated from a form acceptable to the first application to anotherform acceptable to the second application.

For a practical example, in the health-care industry, care providers(e.g., physicians, medical clinics, hospitals, etc,) are required tosend certain information to insurance companies about the health-careservices provided to insured patients. However, in order to reducewaste, fraud, and abuse in health insurance and health care delivery,the Federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)of 1996 sets forth the U.S. Government's guidelines for theadministration of health insurance and health-care services. Inparticular, HIPAA specifies how medical documents including patientinformation are to be handled. Basically, HIPAA specifies that allpatient information must not be made public. Consequently, in providinghealth insurance and health-care services, the privacy of patientinformation included in documents has to be maintained.

If, for example, patient information is to be conveyed from a careprovider to an insurer in electronic form, the care provider typicallyhas to translate the data format of the electronic document to beconveyed to the data format used by the insurer. The translation processchanges the data format and/or syntax of the first application's(original) document to that of the second application's (resulting)document. Since HIPAA specifies that the privacy of the conveyedinformation is to be maintained, it is important to track how thedocument was handled during the translation process. In other words, anaudit trail including the translation process should be maintained. Foraudit purposes (e.g., if a question arises about the validity of thehealth-care information in the translated document), the originaldocument and the map (set of instructions used by translator program)for translating the original document to the resulting document may bemaintained. Nevertheless, a significant problem with previous electronicdocument translation techniques is that they do not assure a recipientof a translated document that it can be non-repudiably tied to theoriginal document and/or to the map used for the original document'stranslation (i.e., “non-repudiable” in the sense that the recipient maynot deny ownership of the resulting document). Consequently, there is noway for a recipient (e.g., e-business partner, auditor, etc.) toexplicitly or legally tie the original and resulting documents together,or otherwise demonstrate the validity of the translation process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present invention and itsadvantages, reference is now made to the following descriptions, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system that may be used to implement oneexample embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example non-repudiable translation unit that maybe used to implement one example embodiment of the present invention;and

FIG. 3 illustrates an example method that may be used for non-repudiabletranslation of electronic documents, in accordance with one exampleembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The preferred embodiment of the present invention and its advantages arebest understood by referring to FIGS. 1-3 of the drawings, like numeralsbeing used for like and corresponding parts of the various drawings.

In accordance with one or more example embodiments of the presentinvention, a technique for non-repudiable translation of electronicdocuments is provided, whereby an original document that was translatedcan be non-repudiably identified, a map applied to the original documentand used for the translation can be non-repudiably identified, adocument resulting from the translation can be non-repudiablyidentified, and it can be demonstrated that the resulting, translateddocument was produced from the original document and map. Also, inaccordance with one or more example embodiments, a technique fornon-repudiable translation of electronic documents is provided, wherebya translation process that invoked a map against an original document toproduce a resulting document may be non-repudiably identified, a timeperiod when a translation process occurred may be non-repudiablyidentified, and an authority responsible for a translation process maybe non-repudiably identified. Furthermore, in accordance with certainexample embodiments, a technique for non-repudiable translation ofelectronic documents is provided, whereby a Universal Resource Name(URN), Message Digest Algorithm (MDA), and public keys of an originaldocument and map may be digitally signed into a resulting, translateddocument. Also, an MDA of a translation process used, a date and timethat a translation process occurred, and a digital certificate for atranslating authority may be included in a resulting document.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system 10 that may be used to implementone example embodiment of the present invention. System 10 includes anetwork 16 that couples a first computer application (e.g., ApplicationA) 12 with a second computer application (e.g., Application B) 18.System 10 can enable performance of e-business transactions betweenApplication A 12 and Application B 18. For example, Application A 12 maybe a computer application executed in software by a processor at a firstbusiness entity's location, and Application B 18 may be a computerapplication executed in software by a processor at a second businessentity's location.

Network 16 may include any suitable private and/or public network thatcan couple together two or more business entities together fore-business purposes. In an example embodiment, network 16 may includethe Internet and/or any suitable Local Area Network (LAN), MetropolitanArea Network (MAN), or Wide Area Network (WAN) coupling one or morebusiness entities (e.g., including Application A 12 and Application B18) to the Internet. In a second example embodiment, network 16 mayinclude a private network within one company coupling two computerapplications (e.g., Application A 12 and Application B 18). In otherwords, the present invention is not intended to be limited to anyparticular type of network or other medium capable of coupling two ormore business entities' computer applications (e.g., in an e-businessenvironment). Preferably, at least two computer applications (e.g.,Application A 12 and Application B 18) are coupled together for thepurpose of transferring electronic documents from one application in afirst data format (e.g., data format A 14) to a second application in asecond data format (e.g., data format B 20).

FIG. 2 illustrates an example non-repudiable translation unit 100 thatmay be used to implement one example embodiment of the presentinvention. For example, translation unit 100 may be used in conjunctionwith Application A 12 (FIG. 1) for non-repudiably translating anoriginal document in data format A 14 to a resulting document in dataformat B 20. Then, the resulting document may be transferred via network16 (or other suitable communications medium) to Application B 18. Asanother example, translation unit 100 may be used in conjunction withApplication B 18 for non-repudiably translating an original document indata format A 14 to a resulting document in data format B 20 (i.e.,after the original document from Application A 12 has been transferredto Application B 18). As still another example, translation unit 100 maybe used in conjunction with Application B 18 for non-repudiablytranslating an original document in data format B 20 to a resultingdocument in data format A 14. Then, the resulting document may betransferred via network 16 (or other suitable communications medium)from Application B 18 to Application A 12. As illustrated by theseexamples, the present invention is not intended to be limited to anyparticular location where non-repudiable translation may be performed.However, for practical design purposes, it may be preferable toimplement unit 100 at the location where the original documents areproduced. As such, non-repudiable translation unit 100 may beimplemented in software, hardware or firmware, or any suitablecombination thereof.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example method 200 that may be used fornon-repudiable translation of electronic documents, in accordance withone example embodiment of the present invention. For example, method 200may be implemented in software and executed by a processor used inconjunction with non-repudiable translation unit 100 of FIG. 2 andApplication A 12 of FIG. 1. In this regard, at step 202, translationunit 100 retrieves an original document 102 (e.g., in data format A 14from a suitable data storage location). At step 204, translation unit100 determines a URN 104 for the original document 102. For thisexample, in accordance with Request For Comments (RFC) 2396, a URN maybe defined as the persistent location of such a document (e.g., storedin an archive).

At step 206, translation unit 100 generates a digital signature for theoriginal document 102 (e.g., using a private key associated withApplication A 12). For example, a private key may be held exclusively bythe owner of a document for use in encrypting and decrypting such adocument and information related to such a document. A companion publickey (e.g., key made available to the public for use in encryption anddecryption) may be used to decrypt information encrypted with theprivate key. Conversely, a private key may be used to decryptinformation encrypted with the companion public key.

As an optional step (included for technical reasons but not necessarilyfor implementing the present invention), an MD extractor 106 may be usedto extract the MD of the original document 108 from the digitalsignature (e.g., by use of a public key 110). For this example, an MDmay be a one-way hash value of the associated document (e.g., originaldocument 102). An MD may be used to confirm that an original documenthas not been changed during translation, because if an original documentis changed during translation, then the resulting MD will be differentthan the original MD. As such, for this example, a digital signature maybe a private key encryption of an MD associated with the document fromwhich the MD was produced. A corresponding public key may be used todecrypt the original MD and MDA applied to the original document, inorder to confirm that the document has not changed. For one exampleembodiment, an MDA may be implemented using an MDS ALGOL®.

At step 208, translation unit 100 retrieves a map 112 used fortranslation of original document 102. For this example, map 112 may be aset of instructions executed by translator 114 (e.g., processorincluding computer program for performing translation). At step 210,translation unit 100 determines a URN 116 for the map 112. At step 212,translation unit 100 generates a digital signature for the map 112(e.g., using a private key associated with Application A 12). As anotheroptional step (again included for technical reasons but not necessarilyfor implementing the present invention), MD extractor 106 may be used toextract the MD of the map 118 from the digital signature (e.g., by useof a public key 120).

At step 214, translation unit 100 invokes translation of the originaldocument 102. For this example, translator unit 100 may provide theoriginal document 102 and the map 112 directly to translator 114 forexecution of translation instructions (e.g., convert input documentsyntax to output document syntax according to map). As anotheralternative, MD extractor 106 may be used to feed the original document102 and map 112 to translator 114 for execution of the translationinstructions (e.g., if the above-described optional steps including theMD extractor 106 have been performed).

At step 216, translation unit 100 assembles into a document thetranslation, along with the digital signatures, URNs (e.g., 104, 116),and public keys (e.g., 110, 120) for the original document 102 and map112. For example, translator 114 may assemble this document.Alternatively, this document may be assembled by a digital signer 122(e.g., implemented by suitable software, hardware, etc.). At step 218,translation unit 100 digitally signs the assembled document (e.g., usinga private key 124). For example, translator 114 or digital signer 122may be used for digitally signing the assembled document. Notably, as anoptional step, the MD for the original document 108 and the MD for themap 118 may also be assembled into the document before it is digitallysigned (e.g., if the above-described optional steps including the MDextractor 106 have been performed). The digitally signed, resultingdocument 126 (including at least the translation, and the digitalsignatures, URNs, and public keys for the original document 102 and map112) may be transferred to Application B 18.

As such, resulting document 126 includes sufficient information for arecipient to demonstrate non-repudiable translation. In other words, theresulting, digitally signed document 126 includes sufficient informationfor a recipient to demonstrate the ownership and relationship of the mapand the original and translated documents, and digitally certifies(e.g., using digital signature with private key 124) to demonstrate thatthe map and original document have not been changed.

Additionally, if the above-described optional steps for the MD extractor106 are performed, the MD of the resulting document may be extracted andreproduced to assure a recipient that the resulting information has notbeen changed. For example, a recipient may use the URN of the originaldocument to reference the original document, extract the MD of theoriginal document using the public key, and reproduce and compare the MDof the original document with the MD of the resulting document. In thisway, a recipient may be assured that the original document has not beenchanged and was, in fact, the original document. If the original andresulting MDs do not match, then it may be inferred that the originaldocument has been changed. Also, a recipient may use the URN of the mapto reference the map, extract the MD of the map using the public key,and reproduce and compare the MD of the original map with the MD of theresulting map. In this way, a recipient may be assured that the originalmap has not been changed and was, in fact, the map used to produce theresulting document. If the original and resulting map MDs do not match;then it may be inferred that the original map has been changed. As aresult of the above, the resulting document is non-repudiably tied tothe referenced original document and map.

As yet another option (e.g., again included for technical reasons butnot necessarily for implementing the present invention), in order toimprove an electronic audit to be performed, additional information maybe added to the resulting document (e.g., during an assembly step 216).For example, an MD and URN of the translator program may be added to theassembled document to identify the software that executed the map. Also,a time stamp indicating the time that a translation occurred may beadded to the assembled document. Furthermore, a digital certificate maybe added to the assembled document in order to identify the translationauthority.

Certain embodiments of the present invention may provide one or moretechnical advantages. For example, certain embodiments of the presentinvention provide assurance that a translated electronic document can benon-repudiably tied to an original electronic document and a map usedfor the translation. Also, certain embodiments provide one or moretechniques for non-repudiable translation of electronic documents thatenable companies to more accurately communicate business informationwith e-business partners, customers and vendors than previoustechniques. Furthermore, certain embodiments provide one or moretechniques for non-repudiable translation of electronic documents, whichenable companies to more efficiently and securely conduct commercialtransactions than with previous translation techniques.

Although example embodiments of the present invention have beenillustrated in the accompanying Drawings and described in the foregoingDetailed Description, it will be understood that the invention is notlimited to any embodiment disclosed, but is capable of numerousrearrangements, modifications and substitutions without departing fromthe spirit of the invention as set forth and defined by the followingclaims.

1. A method for non-reputable translation of documents, comprising thesteps of: determining a storage location for a first document;generating a first digital signature for said first document;determining a storage location for a plurality of translationinstructions; generating a second digital signature for said pluralityof translation instructions; translating said first document to producea translation; assembling a second document, said second documentincluding said storage location for said first document, said storagelocation for said plurality of translation instructions, said firstdigital signature, said second digital signature, said translation, andat least one encryption key associated with said first document and saidplurality of translation instructions; and digitally signing said seconddocument.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the assembling step furthercomprises assembling said second document, said second document furtherincluding a first message digest for said first document and a secondmessage digest for said plurality of translation instructions.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the assembling step further comprisesassembling said second document, said second document further includinga third message digest for a translator, a storage location for saidtranslator, a value indicating a time the translating step wasperformed, and a digital certificate for identifying a translationauthority.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein said storage location forsaid first document comprises a first URN and said storage location forsaid plurality of translation instructions comprises a second URN. 5.The method of claim 3, wherein said storage location for said translatorcomprises a third URN.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the generatingsteps and the digitally signing step comprise encryption with at lastone private key.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said first documentcomprises an original document, and said digitally signed seconddocument comprises a resulting document.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein said plurality of translation instructions comprises a map. 9.The method of claim 1, wherein the translating step further comprisesthe step of translating said first document in accordance with saidplurality of translation instructions.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein the generating steps comprise a step of generating a digitalsignature for said first document and said plurality of translationinstructions.
 11. Logic encoded in media and operable to: determine astorage location for a first document; generate a first digitalsignature for said first document; determine a storage location for aplurality of translation instructions; generate a second digitalsignature for said plurality of translation instructions; translate saidfirst document to produce a translation; assemble a second document,said second document including said storage location for said firstdocument, said storage location for said plurality of translationinstructions, said first digital signature, said second digitalsignature, said translation, and at least one encryption key associatedwith said first document and said plurality of translation instructions;and digitally sign said second document.
 12. The logic of claim 11,wherein generating said first digital signature and said second digitalsignature comprise generating a digital signature for said firstdocument and said plurality of translation instructions.
 13. Acomputer-implemented system for non-reputable translation of documents,comprising: a first application associated with a first entity; and asecond application associated with a second entity, said firstapplication coupled to said second application and operable to:determine a storage location for a first document; generate a firstdigital signature for said first document; determine a storage locationfor a plurality of translation instructions; generate a second digitalsignature for said plurality of translation instructions; translate saidfirst document to produce a translation; assemble a second document,said second document including said storage location for said firstdocument, said storage location for said plurality of translationinstructions, said first digital signature, said second digitalsignature, said translation, and at least one encryption key associatedwith said first document and said plurality of translation instructions;and digitally sign said second document.
 14. The system of claim 13,wherein said first application is further operable to assemble saidsecond document to include a first message digest for said firstdocument and a second message digest for said plurality of translationinstructions.
 15. The system of claim 13, wherein said first applicationis further operable to assemble said second document to include a thirdmessage digest for a translator, a storage location for said translator,a value indicating a time said plurality of translation instructionswere performed, and a digital certificate for identifying a translationauthority.
 16. The system of claim 13, wherein said storage location forsaid first document comprises a first URN and said storage. location forsaid plurality of translation instructions comprises a second URN. 17.The system of claim 15, wherein said storage location for saidtranslator comprises a third URN.
 18. The system of claim 13, whereinsaid first application is further operable to generate said firstdigital signature for said first document, generate said second digitalsignature for said plurality of translation instructions, and digitallysign said second documents by encryption with at last one private key.19. The system of claim 13, wherein said first document comprises anoriginal document, and said digitally signed second document comprises aresulting document.
 20. The system of claim 13, wherein said pluralityof translation instructions comprises a map. 21-24. (canceled)